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Core Web Vitals

SEO101: Core Web Vitals

Expediting User Experience

You don’t have to be an SEO expert to understand the importance of expediting user experience and its role in your digital campaigns’ performance. Easy-to-navigate web pages that load quickly and deliver seamless experiences are beneficial to your website’s organic rankings and benefit performance across all digital channels, including paid search, social, display, and Connected TV (CTV).

By addressing user experience with your website and landing pages, you’re sure to see a positive impact on your digital campaign conversion rates, which usually translate into lower media spend overall to achieve the desired results. With Google announcing ranking updates revolving around Page Experience Signals to go live this June, any professionals involved with digital marketing should ensure that their promoted websites and landing pages address these essential usability elements, extending benefits beyond SEO.

Core Web Vitals are explained within this article and existing. Search signals such as mobile-friendlinesssafe-browsingHTTPS, and intrusive interstitial guidelines focus on Google’s June update. Google’s search algorithm updates are certainly nothing new, which is why step one for any digital agency or website owner working on SEO is to gain insights into basic performance metrics for the website for which they are optimizing.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals, which can be found in Google Search Console and are a primary focus of Google’s upcoming June update, provide performance data for your web pages which Google indexes. They include:

  • Main Content Load Time:
    Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – time in which the indexed and user-requested URL takes to render the largest content element, typically and image or video, visible in the viewport. Good is <=2.5s.  Needs improvement <=4s. Poor is >4s.
  • Click or Tap to Interactive Time:
    First Input Delay (FID) – time from user interaction (on page click or tap) to time when the browser responds to that interaction. Good is <=100ms. Needs improvement <=300ms.  Poor is >300ms.
  • Layout Stability:
    Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – the amount that a page shifts or page instability during load, with more shifting resulting in a negative user experience. Good <=0.1.  Needs improvement <=0.25. Poor is >0.25.

Discovering potential issues with your digital properties begins at leveraging freely available tools, such as Google Page Speed Insights, Bing Webmaster Tools, and Google Search Console to optimize websites for the end-user experience. These tools provide an excellent set of resources for gauging existing and historical performance in search impressions and clicks, pages indexed by Google, mobile usability, and page speed issues, which are a focus of Core Web Vitals.

Addressing Page Speed

Google PageSpeed Insights provides analysis and opportunity details to address the above speed issues on a page-by-page basis. At the same time, Google Search Console monitors the status of all three Core Web Vital elements across your entire site. Recommendations or opportunities for addressing page speed elements are outlined within PageSpeed Insights, providing your team the necessary details for addressing speed issues, including estimated load time savings in seconds, which impact organic search rank and digital campaign performance.

 

Page Speed Insights

Addressing Page Layout

Google Developers resource web.dev also provides more insights into Cumulative Layout Shift, including how to improve your CLS by including size attributes on your image and video elements. Minimizing layout shift is essential for providing site visitors with a consistent experience that lacks shifting or movement of content elements and navigation.  See how your website’s CLS score is calculated.

 

Cumulative Layout Shift

By identifying and addressing website speed and layout issues, you will provide your customers with a better experience. You will also enhance campaign performance across all digital channels and improve your website’s rankings within search results.

If your team hasn’t addressed these elements already, it’s not too late to do some free analysis and discuss ways to improve your Core Web Vitals and performance across digital.

Reach out to Lever Interactive at sales@leverinteractive.com; we’re more than happy to help you with your SEO and digital marketing needs.

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